The end of the road!!

Sunday Session in Arequipa

So after the trek we headed back to Cuzco for a night and then on to Arequipa in Peru. In Arequipa I met Geraldine, Breda and Marky Mark for one last time. We arrived on a Sunday and there was nothing to really do because everything closes on a Sunday so we did the obvious thing and  went all day drinking :-) This was great craic and we all got pretty shit faced playing drinking games.

Alpaca shop Arequipa

The next day we did the worst "free" walking tour I've ever been on. One of the lads  doing the tour couldn't speak a word of English and I was really hungover and couldn't understand a word he was saying. They did bring us to a cool Alpaca Shop where we could see how they make all those Alpaca Jumpers.  This was grand but I was really hungover so yeah I didn't give a shit. Anyway the guy at the end basically for
ced us to give him a tip by saying shit like "although this is free you have to tip us ". I'm pretty sure he didn't grasp the whole FREE part of his advertised free walking tour. I tipped him five soles or something cause I was to hungover to deal with his crap.

The only good thing about the walking tour is they brought us to a cool potato restaurant. So after the walking tour we headed back to get lunch. The restaurant was called Hatunpa and if you ever go to Arequipa check this place out. The food is amazing and they have about a thousand different potato's.

The next day as our final thing to do together we all went white water rafting. This was unbelievable and an absolutely amazing experience.

White water rafting

White water rafting 

That night we grabbed dinner in a fancy restaurant that had some strange guy playing strange songs like the Titanic theme song on some weird instrument.  This was our final meal together before we all went our separate ways so we all got drunk again on cheap red wine.

The Next night we had to say our final goodbyes which got fairly emotional. Geraldine, me , Rodger , Mark and Breda had met crossing the border into crazy Bolivia  five weeks ago and what a journey it had been since then. From the salt flat tour to death road I couldn't have asked for a better group to travel with. I've said it before and I'll say it again but thanks for the laughs and having the craic. You made my time in South America better then I ever could have imagined and I'll see you in Amerstdam (that includes you too James ).

After that me and Rodger headed on to Arica in Chile. We had a bit of trouble crossing the border because for some reason our taxi driver assumed the Dutch man was Irish and filled out some form he needed to cross the border wrong. We managed to be friend a Chilean couple who could speak English and we jumped in a taxi with them on the other side to get to Arica.

We booked into a weird hostel run by some doge guy near the bus station. We left the next day and booked into a surf hostel with an amazing breakfast and the best dorm I have ever stayed in. Me and the kid  were mad up for going surfing but the day we got there they said the waves weren't to good. Chile is ridiculously expensive so we couldn't afford to go out so we stayed in the hostel had the craic and drank cans.

Surfing in Arica, Chile 

The next day we went surfing with this crazy surfing instructor . He put us in his dodgy car and off we went to the beach(although he had to stop at his house on the way). This guy was mental and his surfing lesson consisted of two sentences - 1- Swim and 2- Jump on board. The whole thing was pretty funny but we got in and gave it a go. Although the instructor got out after five minutes because he said it was too cold. It wasn't cold at all. I actually thought it was fairly warm but yeah he was mental so we just left him to it.

After a couple of hours surfing we headed back to the hostel. Me and Rodger got cans and had our last cans and final smoke together. The next day we were flying to Santiago together where I was staying but the kid was catching a connecting flight to Buenos Aires.  The flight turned out to be good craic as it just felt that we were moving on to our next destination but when we got to Santiago the reality that we were coming to end of our time in South America set in.

Rodger had to wait a couple of hours for his flight so I hung around the airport with him for a couple of hours until we had to say our  final farewell. We had a coffee and had the craic but then it was time to go so we hugged out and made plans to stay in touch and off I went into Santiago on my own again.

Thats pretty much the end of my time in South America. So much more happened then I could write in this blog but I tried to cover the main things. All the little jokes, singing , drinking and general banter along the way I will never forget but most of all I will never forget the people.As cheesy as it sounds I think I have made some friends for life along the way. Marky Mark , Geraldine , Breda, James  and the Kid thanks for the laughs and I'll see you all for the reunion in Amsterdam ( oh and Markus I'll drop into Norway for that oil).

People often ask  will travelling change you and I will never be one of those pretentious people who thinks there better than someone just for going travelling. For me travelling around south America taught me to let go and to me that is one of the greatest feelings ever. The feeling of just letting all your stresses, worries, opinions and differences go and let south America take hold. This feeling I will never forget. If you are considering going to South America I can't tell you to do it and hey maybe you wont like it but from experience once south America grabs you, picks you up and takes hold of you  you will never look back. So hey go for it and jump straight in.

 Here's a video slide show just for the craic  because I have a lot of time on my hands at the moment !

Next stop New Zealand and the Magic Mike stray bus !